23.01.2019 change 23.01.2019

Scientists, among them Polish researchers, propose a warmer superconductor

Photo: Fotolia Photo: Fotolia

Silver fluoride as a new superconductor operating at higher temperature than previously known materials? Scientists, including researchers from the University of Warsaw, propose this solution in an article in PNAS.

Superconductors are materials that conduct electrical current without losses when cooled to very low temperatures. Today, they have many applications, for example in superconducting magnets of the Large Hadron Collider, or in medical MRI equipment. Widespread use of superconductors (for example in maglev trains) is difficult due to the high costs associated with cooling, the University of Warsaw press office reminds in a release.

Since the discovery of superconductivity in 1911, scientists have been searching for materials capable of superconducting at ambient temperature. The previous temperature record (minus 140 degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure) belongs to copper oxides.

Researchers from the University of Warsaw under the supervision of Prof. Wojciech Grochala from the Centre of New Technologies of the University of Warsaw together with colleagues from the UK, Slovenia, Italy, the U.S. and Slovakia presented a new candidate for ambient temperature superconducting material - silver fluoride. Researchers claim that replacing copper with silver and oxygen with two fluorine atoms allows to retain many similarities to copper materials, and can potentially increase the working temperature of the material.

Among the authors of the article are scientists from the Centre of New Technologies of the University of Warsaw (Prof. Wojciech Grochala - leader of the scientific team from the University of Warsaw, Dr. Subrahmanyam Bandaru, Dr. Marian Derzsi, Jakub Gawraczyński, Dr. Tomasz Jaroń, Dr. Dominik Kurzydłowski, Dr. Piotr J. Leszczyński), Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Warsaw (Prof. Wojciech Gadomski) and the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw (Dr. Krzysztof Wohlfeld).

The text of the publication is available on the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America" website.

PAP - Science in Poland, Paweł Wernicki

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